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Egypt officials condemn film, ask Egyptians for 'self-restraint'

September 12, 2012 | 9:53
am

CAIRO -- The Egyptian government said Wednesday that it strongly
condemned a movie ridiculing the prophet Muhammad that triggered violent
protests in Cairo and Benghazi, Libya, but called for "self-restraint" among
those outraged by the film.

Prime Minister Hesham Kandil told Egyptians that the U.S. government
had nothing to do with the video and said the riot Tuesday at the American Embassy in Cairo was unacceptable. However, Kandil went on to urge the United States to take
a firm stand against those who produced the film, saying it should act under international
agreements against inciting racist and religious strife.

In a later statement, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi "condemned the transgression upon the prophet and ordered the Egyptian Embassy in Washington to take appropriate legal measures against the producers of the film," his spokesman Yasser Ali said Wednesday.

The Tuesday protests in Cairo were fueled by anger over an amateur
movie screened on a Salafist-run television channel that depicted the Islamic
prophet and his followers as “child lovers.” The film was produced by an American who told the Associated Press that Islam was "a cancer, period."

In Cairo, protesters scaled the embassy walls and tore down an American flag; hours later in Benghazi, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and and three other Americans died as a mob attacked
and burned the American consulate.

In the aftermath of the protests, the Egyptian prosecutor
general put Morris Sadek, a Coptic Christian in the U.S. who authorities say promoted
the film online, on a travel watch list, along with Florida pastor Terry Jones,
who has backed the movie, saying it reveals “the
destructive ideology of Islam.”

Egyptian state media reported eight other Copts
living abroad were also put on the list. The Copts and Jones are wanted for questioning by Egyptian authorities because several lawyers filed
complaints against them related to the
movie and for allegedly defaming Islam and insulting the prophet.

Morsi, a conservative Islamist, was elected this
year in polls that pitted the Muslim Brotherhood member against an official
who served in the toppled regime of Hosni Mubarak.

"Morsi is in a very critical situation," said Khalil Anani, a Middle East scholar at Durham University in Britain. "On the one hand, he has to stress the responsibility of the state on protecting all diplomatic buildings. However, on the other hand, any harsh reaction against protesters might hurt his 'Islamist' credentials and will put him face to face with extreme Islamists."

"Hence, he needs to reconcile between his Islamist background and his position as the chief responsible person in the country," Anani said.

Libyan officials spoke out strongly against the violence,
condemning the deadly Tuesday attack as a cowardly crime and pledging to
investigate. President Mohamed Magariaf apologized for the deaths.